2-24-83 Agenda & Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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q:&14t.- MEMO TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Clerk-Administrator Pauley -41& Finance Director-Treasurer Brager DATE: February 10, 1983 SUBJECT: WORD PROCESSOR/MICROPROCESSOR PURCHASE RECOMMENDATION The purpose of this memorandum is to provide the recommendation of the City staff with respect to the purchase of a word processor/ microprocessor system for the City of Mounds View and in coordina- tion with two other member cities of the Ramsey County Consortium of Municipalities (RCCM) . However, prior to giving our recommenda- tion and rationale, staff would like to outline the process followed by RCCM and the Mounds View City staff in determining what type of system would be suitable and in screening those bids received to determine which one best fit the specifications, our financial limitations, and our identified needs. The process began prior to the development of the 1983 Revenue Sharing Budget when staff representatives of RCCM' s member cities began discussion to determine what modifications could be made to the 111 Consortium' s operations. One of the more obvious improvements identified as being needed was a change in operations which would eliminate the inherent delays in data input resulting from our use of batch processing (input of data on keypunched cards) , the cost of keypunching and data delivery services , and loss of control of the input and editing processes. These difficulties are easily overcome by implementing a direct data entry function where the member cities input data directly into the County computer from a remote terminal at their facilities and edit all information before the finished output product is run. Such a direct (remote) data entry function can easily be performed in a "dumb terminal" leased from the County. This terminal would be capable of no other function but input of data and correction of information before final output. An alternative would be the purchase of a "smart terminal" which would not only allow data input but would also be capable of performing in-house data processing and word processing functions. Comparing the lease of a "dumb terminal" to the purchase of a "smart terminal" it was realized that the purchase would be paid back in approximately two to three years. After reaching this conclusion it became necessary to determine what functions we would want this "smart terminal" to perform in addition to remote data entry to the County computer, the type of system these functions would dictate and the configuration of the •